Been a fan of your fics for YEARS. I was just telling my friend how despite how much I read fics I never actually love them, with some of your fics (especially TMA) as the exception. Felt the need to reread some of them and saw you reblogged some ISAT fanart. So. Any thoughts on ISAT you'd like to share?
Hope you have a wonderful day!! So happy I found your fics again!!
I avoided answering this for a while because I was trying to think of a way to cohesively and coherently vocalize my thoughts on In Stars and Time. I have given up because I don't want to hold everybody here all day and I have accepted that my thoughts are just pterodactyl screeching.
I love it so much. I have so much to say on it. It drove me bonkers for like a week straight. I have AUs. It's absolute Megbait. They're just a little Snufkin and they're having the worst experience of anybody's life. Ludonarratives my fucking beloved.
I am going to talk about the prologue.
The prologue is such a fascinating experience. You crack open the game and immediately begin checking off all of the little genre boxes: mage, warrior, researcher, you're the rogue...some little kid who's there for some reason...alright, you know the score. You're in yet another indie Earthbound RPG, these are your generic characters, let's get the ball rolling.
Except then you realize that these characters are people. You feel instantly how you've entered the game at its last dungeon, at the end of the adventure. They have their own in-jokes, histories, backgrounds, adventures. They get along well and they're obviously close, but not in a twee or unrealistic way. They have so much chemistry and spirit and life. I fell in love with them so quickly.
But Sif doesn't. Sif kind of hates them, because they will not stop saying the same damn thing. They walk the same paths, do the same things, make the same jokes, expect Sif to say the same lines. They keep referencing a Sif we do not see, with jokes we never see him make and heroic personality he never shows - they reference a Sif who is dead - and Sif can't handle that, so he kills them too.
They become only an exercise in tedious frustration. Sif button mashes through their dialogue, Sif mindlessly clicks the same dialogue options, Sif skips through the tutorial, Sif blows through the puzzles. Sif turns their world into a video game. Sif is playing a generic RPG. Sif forgets their names. They are no longer people with in-jokes, histories, backgrounds, adventures. They're the mage, the warrior, the researcher, and...some random kid.
I did not understand the Kid's presence at first. I had no idea what they contributed to the game. They didn't do anything. As a party member in a video game, they're a bit useless. Why is the Kid there?
Because Sif's life isn't a video game. Because the kid isn't 'the kid'. They're Bonnie. Bonnie, who the party loves. Why is Bonnie there? Because they love them. There is no room for Bonnie in the boring RPG that Sif is playing. And then you realize that Sif is wrong, and that they've lost something extremely important, and that they'll never escape without it.
Watching the prologue before watching ISAT gave ISAT the most unique air of dread and horror, because you crack open ISAT and you see the person Sif used to be. You realize that Sif used to be a person. Sif used to be the person who made jokes, who gave real smiles, who interacted with the world as if they are a part of it. And you know you are sitting down to watch Sif lose everything that made them a person, to lose everything that made them a member of this world, and turn them into a character in a video game who doesn't understand the point of Bonnie at all.
At the climax of the game, when the others realize that something is deeply wrong and that Sif physically cannot tell them, they realize that there is nothing they can do. So Bonnie declares snacktime. And for the first time they have snacktime.
What is snacktime? Classic JRPGs don't have snacktime. There's literally no point to a snacktime - not in a video game, and not in Sif's terrible life. It's not fixing this, because nothing can fix this. But Bonnie gives Sif a cookie and Sif eats it.
It's meaningless. It's a cutscene. It didn't save Sif and it didn't change a thing. It will make no difference in the end.
But it did make the difference. It made all of the difference in the world. Bonnie is a character who you really don't understand the point of before you realize that Bonnie was the entire point.
ISAT is about comfort media. Why do we play the same video games over and over again? Why do we avoid watching the finale of our favorite shows? What is truly comforting: a story with no conflict, or a story where you always know what is about to happen? Do you want to live in a scary, uncontrollable world, or do you want to play Stardew Valley? Do you want a person or a character?
When I beat Earthbound for the first time (and if you don't know, the prologue/ISAT battle system is just Mother) and watched the ending cutscene where the characters part ways and say goodbye...I felt a little bit sad. I wanted them to be together forever. But that's something only characters could ever be.
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I'm sorry if what I say is wrong in any way, I don't mean to offend you, it's just something I'm not completely sure about. Does Adam use he/they or they/them pronouns? I think I saw a post of yours where you said that Adam uses he/they, but it was a while ago and now I'm not completely sure (and I don't want to use the wrong pronouns)
I know you don't mean anything by it, but I am sad that so many of the asks I get start with people saying "I'm sorry, I don't want to offend you" or some variation thereof, followed by completely normal questions. I think I may have been responding too harshly to too many things and given the impression that I'll jump at people for being wrong...
But asking clarifying questions is always okay. I mean, it's also okay to be wrong and even offensive. What matters is if you learn from it when someone points out that it was wrong or offensive. I won't stop telling people they're saying something hurtful if they are, but I don't want that to lead people to be scared of me or something.
Correcting people is always just about correcting them, not hurting them. It's okay to need to be corrected, were all learning new things every day.
Anyways Adam uses he/they, you remembered correctly
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i like jealous dennis but honestly what im hoping for is dennis who wants to see mac succeed and when he does just gets sad about it. like what we saw in gets romantic, when dennis supported mac trying to have his lovestory with the guy and just lingered in the background looking kind of upset. he played the music for mac. he tried to help him. he wasnt happy about it, but he tried to help. because he wants to convince himself he doesnt want and doesnt need mac and is willing to let him go.
and idk but i kinda feel like when he does see mac succeed and win the guy over it doesnt suddenly flip over into anger but into sadness instead. maybe this is just me being delusional and wanting to see dennis be a sopping wet loser but idk. i think dennis does want mac to succeed (if only to prove to himself he doesnt need him) and i dont think hes willing yet to show he cares enough to throw a tantrum. he might quietly seethe a bit, but i dont think he’ll actually get angry.
i think that when mac actually chooses someone other than dennis, he wont be mad because theres nothing to be angry at. it just means he wasnt good enough
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Uncle Nina, do they do HYH in the RM universe?
OOOOOH!!!!! it’s interesting that ur asking me this, anon.
— because i wanted to say No ( bc you know, they got their own distinct style scent thing going, the smile pendejo thing, like its all the same but its different )
However...
so me and the ~wife~ ( cue me saying HI! ;) louder than anyone else ) were talking abt the ravesey divorce para i was writing where kyle was getting all his messy jersey bad boy attack dog battle wounds patched up by pacifistic gentle punk rock angel medic!ravenstan...
and that...while he was bandaging kyle's knuckles up ( you know, before laying all those tiny hello kitty and care bear bandaids ) raven definitely tenderly kissed Each One of jersey's knuckles...AND THAT GAVE ME MENTAL PROBLEMS BC YOU KNOW HE DID!!! you know he was so gentle, attentive and Loving!!!! which given The Context!!!
AAAAAA!!!!!! -bangs my head in the car door screaming-
anYwAys!
but i just Know that jerseykyle, who is never surprised, never caught off guard, never vulnerable, does not fluster and NEVER blushes, was completely captivated. all wide-eyed and stuttering like
"wh-what? whaddaya—stan, what are you doin—“
then stan gets to the last knuckle, kisses it, puts his hand down & kyle, putting all the pieces together like the logician he is, is like...
"oh my god...ya still do that?
— from when we were little kids?"
and kyle squints, then shakes his head in disbelief like...
"'..cause ya mom, said that if you get hurt,
and you don't kiss it betta...It Won’t Heal Right."
and ravenstan just leans up and kisses jersey on the cheek — right where he has a cut — puts a hello kitty bandaid over it, and then...
in the softest, saddest, sentimental voice, smiles & says,
"Hope You Heal." :')
WHICHKHDSK RAAAAH!!! WHY WOULD I DO THIS!!!
i hate the ravesey divorce. i hope i fucking heal..
…bUT MAYBE NAUGHT WTF????!!!
-uncle nina, ~wheN WoRLDs cOLLidE~
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